Now that the 'Bin Laden' patsy has served its purpose (American presence in Afghanistan, opium production, Caspian oil pipeline, or whatever), time to remove him from the public consciousness and move on to the next daemon so as to further whatever goals are part of this larger strategy. Whatever that may be.

This exactly what I was afraid of. The real danger, the person who actually deserves killing for what he did and might yet do to us, gets away, while someone who "possibly", "might be" a threat at some point in time gets our attention. The only people Iraq is a threat to is our national pimp, Israel. Meanwhile, Bin Laden can hide and recuperate until he decides to attack us on his terms, once. How many terrorist attacks and deaths is it going to take to get the government to realize that a few PSG-1 bullets would be much more effective against these punks than an entire army? Damn Idiots in the G.

I love Bush, but this is a little weak. I wish the government/media hadn't made Osama into such a symbol to begin with. I guess we needed a "face". Still, I think it's too early to be calling Osama "irrelevant".

I think Osama is dead, as do others. (1) A tall body was found under rubble a month or so ago. And if that wasn't him ... (2) He was dying of kidney failure anyway, and it's touch to maintain dialysis under lousy desert conditions while being bombed.

of course, osama was behind 3000+ murders, on to the next bete noir. we can't catch the bastard,so let's make believe he isn't such a bad guy. sure, for 6 months it's been osama all the time, now he doesn't exist?

I think we need to keep a broader view of this war. Getting Osama will not end it. President Bush's responsibility is to protect the country from terrorist threats. You can put all your eggs in one basket- getting Osama- then what? If you don't get him you have to admit defeat, lose the inititive and popular support. Saddam represents a clear threat, because he is developing WMD, and not just to be used by himself against us, but easily transferred to other radical groups who would gladly use them against us or allies, while he claims innocence. Instead of 3000 deaths you would be looking at 30,000. Another advantage is the message that would be sent to other Arab states in the area, that we are capable of changing governments. We are capable and willing to use force to accomplish these goals. The danger is there it would be foolish to ignore it.

I think it was just a matter of time until this administration got it's sights on Iraq, and the War on Terrorism provided the perfect excuse. There are just too many people around Bush who want to make up for their leaving Saddam around after the Gulf War.

It seems logical for Bush not to focus on what may be a red stain in a cave, but to instead broaden the effort to include those who would supply Usama's minions with WMD. With $25mm on his head, UBL would seem to be pretty far underground given the silence ...

If the ways (Al Queda, radical islamists) hook up with the means (WMD programs in 'axis' countries), then more 9/11-style cunning and destruction are on the menu for US.

There may be a method to Bush's apparent madness here: Send a messge to OBL we regard him as an idiot loser not worth any further intelligence or military effort, the maggot chafes at not being regarded the world's greatest terrorist, drops his guard enough to let us locate him, then we zero in and kill him.

Ever play this game as a kid,"I am a General in an army of some estimated 30000 now scattered and unaccounted for throughout Afghanistan,I oversee drug,slave and arms trading from Bosnia to the Phillipines I have 3000 operatives in 64 countries, I was working on and may well of developed chemical,biological and nuclear weapons,recently you have found my soldiers models of the capital and other places,false passports and drivers liscences,I can make cash go worldwide without going through banks,my followers are fundamentalists and I AM IRRELEVANT,WHO AM I?"

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